The Mess on Mount Everest

The case to leave a trace

Soaring 25,035 feet above sea level, Mount Everest is not only the tallest peak in the world; it's also the highest junkyard. Hardly a suitable image for what the locals refer to as “Goddess Mother of the World.” But despite its relative inaccessibility, an estimated 1,150 tons of garbage has been left on her since Sir Edmund Hillary first reached the summit in 1953.

While we Nomads are aware of the need to tread as lightly on the earth as possible, many climbers are leaving more than a trace in their quest for the ultimate physical challenge. And their traces are destroying more than the view. Mount Everest 's litter has contaminated water sources, depleted the local flora and fauna and created inestimable health concerns for the local inhabitants.

The damage isn't surprising considering the garbage strewn on the world's highest peak is not just energy bar wrappers and orange peels. Mount Everest reluctantly plays host to abandoned tents, tent poles, fuel containers, oxygen canisters, ropes, assorted climbing gear, sleeping bags and the occasional human corpse.

Make 'em Pay

The problem became so pervasive that in the early '90s, the Nepalese government began demanding a $4,000 refuse deposit from expedition teams to encourage climbers to carry their garbage back out upon descent. The fee was reimbursed to climbers who could prove they'd removed all of their non-biodegradable refuse from the mountain. Surprisingly, this program met with mixed degrees of success. With the average expedition costing $65,000 per climber, perhaps the fee was too small a drop in the financial bucket.

The Long Haul

Ken Noguchi is a first in many ways. Not only is he the first mountaineer to join the Seven Summits Club (climb seven of the world's highest peaks) by the age 25, he's the first to lead the charge to clean up Everest. In 1999, he decided to climb Everest yet again, this time not for glory, but on garbage detail. Over the course of four years, his team removed approximately eight tons of garbage littered about its slopes at various elevations. Even though Everest is far from pristine, his efforts have raised awareness of the problem globally. Today, Noguchi leaves Everest's environmental future in the hands those who climb it and has focused his efforts on cleaning up Mount Fuji , Japan 's highest peak.